Planning and Ideas for the Music Video

Me and my partner decided for our music video to have both aspects of performance and narrative. However, we decided we want to show both of them throughout the music but then at the end they combine together. We are going to to this by showing how our main character of the narrative is a fan of the music. We then want to keep cutting back to shots of the band performing the song, but telling a journey of then arrative and the main character. We also came up with the idea that as the main character is experiencing different suprises and actions in the narrative that he keeps walking past band members, completly taking no notice. At the end of the narrative and nearing the ned of the song we have decided to link the narrative and performance together, we will do this by showing how the main character picks up a guitar and then joining in with the song. We believe this will create a dramatic effect and show the relationship bewteen fans of the music and the band that creates the music. Our target audience is quite niche and the fans generally only listen to that type of music, hard, grunge rock. We wanted to demonstrate a symbolic relationship bewteen the music and the fan and we believe this twist in narrative and performance can do this. It also demonstrates Roland Barthes' symbolic code becuase there is a lot of meaning bewteen the music and fans and people that listen to this genre of music will understand this. This also demonstrates Barthes' cultural code because fans of the music will already have an understanding and knowledge of this type of performance and the music itself.

The Strangers

We had a band come down from Manchester to play a gig at our school, during third and fourth period we were given the oppurtunity to record them live. We were split into groups of 4/5 and given cameras, we then set up in different parts of the location to record the band. Being split up enabled us to get different variations of shots and footage. We recorded the song "In Chaos" by the band and we had 3 cameras. We had one camera on a tripod on the ground floor as well as a handheld camera. This allowed us to have close up shots and medium shots of the band and the instruments. We had the third camera on a dolly on the area above the ground floor. This was effective becuase we could get great shots from aobve and a bird eye view of the band and instruments. When we combine the footage from all three cameras we can make a music video which will help with practising for our music video. I learned a lot from doing this practise, it gave me a better understanding of how much work it can be to to record music live and how much organisation is needed.

Researching Into The Grunge Genre

I want to understand fully about the genre that I will be working with, this will be able to help me understand what their audience is like and the style of their music videos. I researched into a similiar band called Pearl Jam who very similiar to Nirvana. They both were very popular in the 1990's and along with Nirvana are voted one of the best Grunge bands ever.




When comparing this music video with Nirvana's I can see there are many

similarities. For example, both seem to have been shot in one location and filmed in dark lighting. They are wearing similar clothes, such as baggy shirts and jeans and long, uncombed hair. We can make sure that in our music video that we represent this by choosing a character with long hair and similar clothes. Furthermore, the connection between the band and their fans can be seen very strongly here, something I have already similarly seen in Nirvana’s music video. This is done by using many shots of the both the band and the audiences together, symbolising the connection caused by the music. It seems this is something both bands have done, so it might be worth doing something similar in our music video.

I can also see that during slow parts of the song such as the intro, ending and verses that there are longer shots and fewer cuts. But during heavier parts such as the chorus there are many different shots and faster cuts, to me this represents the energy in the music. This similar style was done in Nirvana’s video. This comparison tells me how I could film my music video, such as low lighting. It also tells me the fashion of both the band and the fans and what people would expect the characters to look like in a grunge music video.

Genre Research

I researched further into the grunge genre and found another popular band which is still very popular even today. Alice In Chains were very popular in the grunge genre along with Nirvana and Pearl Jam, what I found interesting when looking at comments and forums is that all these bands seem to have very loyal, dedicated fan bases. This tells me that that to reach out to this audience we are going to need to show that we respect the music and film it in a similar fashion to what they are use to.





This music video has many qualities which when compared to Nirvana's and Pearl Jam's videos I can see that there are some strong similarities. For example, in all three of the videos there doesn't seem to good lighting, and they are all shot in dark locations. In this video there are many locations, unlike Nirvana where there is just one main location. The first minute of the video has some amazing effects, using different colours, fish-eye effects, slow-motion and different angles. This makes the video very interesting. When comparing all three of the videos i can see that the pace of the shots is more varied and quicker cut at a heavier bit, and less, longer shots for slower parts of the song. This seems to be a common theme in these music videos and something our audience will recognise. This could be something we incorporate into our music video.

Lyrics Meanings

These lyrics don’t seem to have a direct meaning or to be aimed at anything in particular. When looking at people comment on forums it seems that there is a lot of discussion on what the lyrics actually mean. It seems that there is two main suggestions as to what the lyrics might symbolise. One suggestion was that the lyrics were aimed at the people that did not like their kind of music. I have learned from my own research that it seemed grunge music wasn’t the most liked genre of music and there was a lot of competition and rivalry between grunge and punk, hip-hop and many other genres.  I also believe that it’s not all about the lyrics but how they are being sung and in what way.  The music gets a lot heavier in the chorus which suggests to me that they are getting “angry” at the people which don’t like their music. It is a lot softer during the verses where lyrics such as “oh well, whatever, never mind”. Which suggests that they don’t care and will move on and forget about the haters.  Furthermore, I can’t work out what these lyrics could mean as they are pretty random and don’t have a strong structure.  But this is the style of Nirvana and many other grunge bands, this allows people to create their own meaning and symbolism for the strong, rather than being one main belief.

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit Lyrics

I looked up the lyrics to our song for two main reasons, one reason being becuase our vocalist will have to sing and the second reason becuase it can help us with ideas for the narrative. These are the lyrics:

Load up on guns,
Bring your friends
It's fun to lose and to pretend
She's overboard self assured
Oh no I know, a dirty word.

Hello, hello, hello, hello?
Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, how low, how low?
Hello, hello, hello.

With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
i feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulato!
An Albino!
A mosquito!
My libido!
Yay! Hey! Yay!

I'm worse at what I do best
And for this gift I feel blessed
Our little group has always been
And always will until the end

Hello, hello, hello, hello?
Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, how low, how low?
Hello, hello, hello.

With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulato!
An Albino!
A mosquito!
My libido!
Yay! Hey! Yay!

(Solo)

And I forget just why I taste -
Oh yeah, I guess it makes me smile
I found it hard, it was hard to find
Oh well, whatever, nevermind

Hello, hello, hello, hello?
Hello, hello, hello, how low?
Hello, hello, how low, how low?
Hello, hello, hello.

With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mullato!
An albino!
A mosquito!
My libido!

A denial!(x9)

Nirvana Style Video

Nirvana are well known for having a lot of symbolism in their music videos. It worked well with following their lyrics and the narrative of the music video. Many of their music videos showed a lot of performance and a lot of their audience. This was very popular for an alternative, grunge rock band such as Nirvana as they preferred being seen as a less mainstream audience. Their music videos demonstrate grunge fashion which was normally ripped jeans, band t-shirts, old skate shoes or boots, or long sleeve shirts. Normally they messy, long hair with no style. The picture below demonstrates the type of clothes and hairstyles they had.

We need to research this type of information to make sure when we are filming for our music video that our characters look like the typical stereotype of that genre. Being in the grunge genre we need to make sure we meet the audiences demands and expectations of this type of fashion, we are going to need to find some people we can use in our music video which meets this style and of the grunge codes and conventions.